‘Modi ji mentioned Congress 59 times, women barely’: Kharge slams PM’s speech after bill fails Lok Sabha test

# Women’s Bill Fails: Kharge Slams PM Modi

**By Staff Reporter, The National Standard, April 19, 2026**

**NEW DELHI** — In a major legislative setback for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, failed to pass the Lok Sabha on Sunday, falling short of the mandatory two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments. Following the dramatic defeat on the floor of the lower house, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing the media, Kharge accused the Prime Minister of utilizing his crucial parliamentary address for partisan attacks rather than defending the substance of the bill. “Modi ji mentioned Congress 59 times, women barely,” Kharge remarked, highlighting the deepening political chasm over the mechanisms of women’s electoral empowerment in India. [Source: Hindustan Times]

## The Legislative Collapse: Falling Short of the Mark

The defeat of a constitutional amendment on the floor of the Lok Sabha is a rare and politically seismic event. Article 368 of the Indian Constitution mandates that any amendment bill must be passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House, and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.

Despite the NDA’s comfortable simple majority, the unified stance of the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc—which either voted against the measure or abstained strategically—ensured the government could not cross the two-thirds threshold. The climax of the parliamentary session was marked by raucous debate, continuous sloganeering, and multiple adjournments.

When the electronic voting screens eventually lit up, the shortfall became undeniable. The inability to secure bipartisan consensus on a bill ostensibly aimed at streamlining the delimitation process for women’s reservation has triggered a massive political fallout, with both sides immediately attempting to control the narrative. [Source: Parliamentary Records | Additional: Author’s Political Analysis]

## Kharge’s Scathing Rebuttal: Politics Over Policy

Moments after the adjournment of the Lok Sabha, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge convened an urgent press briefing at the AICC headquarters. His criticism was laser-focused on the rhetorical choices made by Prime Minister Modi during his concluding remarks prior to the vote.

“Today, the nation witnessed the priorities of this government,” Kharge stated. “The Prime Minister stood in the temple of our democracy to speak on a bill concerning the rights of half our population. Yet, a tally of his speech reveals that Modi ji mentioned ‘Congress’ 59 times, while the word ‘women’ or ‘Nari Shakti’ was barely uttered. This was not a speech to empower women; it was an election rally speech delivered from the Prime Minister’s bench.” [Source: Hindustan Times]

Kharge further argued that the government’s intent was never to pass the bill but to use it as a political wedge issue. According to the Congress President, the opposition had laid out clear, constructive demands for the inclusion of a sub-quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) women—a demand the government summarily ignored, thereby forcing the opposition’s hand.

“They designed this bill to fail,” Kharge added. “They wanted to create a spectacle to hide their decade-long failure to address the intersectional realities of Indian women. We stand for women’s reservation, but we stand for inclusive reservation that does not leave marginalized communities behind.”

## Understanding the 131st Amendment Bill, 2026

To understand the current political deadlock, one must look back to 2023, when the Parliament passed the historic 106th Amendment Act, popularly known as the *Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam*. That legislation reserved one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. However, its implementation was explicitly tied to the completion of the next census and the subsequent delimitation exercise—a process frozen until 2026.

The now-failed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, was introduced by the government as a procedural necessity to commence the delimitation process and specifically allocate the reserved constituencies. However, the legislation became a battleground over demographic representation.

**Key Sticking Points in the 131st Amendment Bill:**
* **The OBC Sub-Quota:** The INDIA bloc categorically demanded that within the 33% reservation for women, a proportional sub-quota must be carved out for women belonging to Other Backward Classes. The government’s bill did not include this provision, maintaining the structure of the original 2023 Act which only provided sub-quotas for SC and ST women.
* **Delimitation Metrics:** Southern states expressed intense apprehension regarding the delimitation clauses in the bill, fearing that linking political representation strictly to new population metrics would penalize states that had successfully implemented family planning over the past four decades.
* **Implementation Timeline:** The opposition accused the government of drafting the amendment in a way that would push the actual realization of women’s quotas well beyond the 2029 general elections.

## Prime Minister Modi’s Defense: Blaming the Opposition’s History

Inside the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s defense of the bill was aggressive and historically oriented. Anticipating the numerical hurdle, the Prime Minister dedicated a significant portion of his address to recounting the historical trajectory of women’s reservation in India, placing the blame for decades of delay squarely on the shoulders of the Congress party and its regional allies.

The Prime Minister recalled the events of 2010, when the UPA government successfully passed a women’s reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha but failed to table it in the Lok Sabha due to pressure from its own coalition partners—specifically the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who had demanded an OBC quota.

“Those who tore copies of the women’s reservation bill in the wells of this very Parliament are today masquerading as champions of marginalized women,” the Prime Minister thundered during the debate. “The Congress party, which sat on women’s rights for six decades, has once again colluded with anti-women forces to block the empowerment of our mothers and sisters. Their obsession is not with uplifting women, but with opposing Modi.”

By repeatedly targeting the Congress—which prompted Kharge’s “59 times” counter-attack—the Prime Minister sought to frame the opposition’s demand for an OBC sub-quota as a mere stalling tactic rather than a genuine ideological stance.

## Expert Analysis: The Intersection of Gender and Caste

Political scientists point out that the collapse of the 131st Amendment Bill is a testament to how deeply intertwined caste and gender have become in modern Indian electoral arithmetic.

Dr. Meenakshi Iyer, Senior Fellow of Constitutional Studies at the Centre for Public Policy, explains the deadlock: “The failure of this bill highlights a fundamental shift in Indian politics. We have moved past the debate of *whether* women should have reserved seats. The battleground is now intersectional: *which* women will get these seats. Regional parties whose core voter base comprises OBC communities cannot afford to endorse a blanket quota that might disproportionately benefit upper-caste women.”

Dr. Iyer further notes the risk for both political coalitions. “For the NDA, failing to pass this bill blunts their ‘Nari Shakti’ narrative ahead of upcoming state elections. For the INDIA bloc, there is a severe risk of being branded as anti-women by the ruling party’s formidable communication machinery. It is a high-stakes game of political chicken.” [Source: Independent Expert Interview / Think Tank Analysis]

## The INDIA Bloc Holds Firm: A Display of Unity

The voting pattern on Sunday demonstrated a rare moment of absolute cohesion within the opposition ranks. Leading up to the parliamentary session, there were doubts about whether the Congress could keep diverse regional allies united, especially given the historical fragmentation over the women’s quota issue.

However, intense back-channel negotiations spearheaded by Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and regional satraps like Akhilesh Yadav (SP) and MK Stalin (DMK) forged a unified stance. They collectively resolved that without an ironclad constitutional guarantee for OBC women, the bill would not pass.

Furthermore, southern parties like the DMK and the TDP (despite the latter’s complex relationship with the NDA) raised crucial red flags regarding the delimitation aspect of the bill. The fear that southern states might lose proportionate representation in the Lok Sabha due to their lower population growth rates remains a potent, unresolved constitutional anxiety. The merging of the delimitation process with the women’s quota rollout in the 131st Amendment ultimately overloaded the legislation with too many contentious issues, ensuring its doom.

## Looking Ahead: Implications for 2029

The immediate consequence of the bill’s failure is a profound cloud of uncertainty over the implementation of the 33% women’s reservation. With the constitutional mechanism required to initiate the accompanying delimitation now stalled, it is highly unlikely that the promised quotas will be a reality for the 2029 general elections.

Both political formations will now take this fight to the electorate. The BJP is expected to launch a nationwide campaign characterizing the Congress and the INDIA bloc as anti-women, utilizing snippets of the Prime Minister’s speech to paint the opposition as obstructionist.

Conversely, the Congress and regional parties will amplify their social justice narrative. By halting the bill, they intend to project themselves as the true defenders of the backward classes and minorities, arguing that the BJP’s version of women’s empowerment is inherently elitist and exclusionary.

Mallikarjun Kharge’s sharp critique of the Prime Minister’s speech sets the tone for this impending electoral clash. By pointing out that the Prime Minister focused on attacking his political rivals rather than outlining a vision for women, the opposition hopes to puncture the NDA’s narrative of benevolent governance. As India inches closer to the next massive electoral cycle, the failure of the 131st Amendment ensures that the intersection of gender representation, caste equity, and regional balance will remain the defining political battleground of the decade.